Shortcuts

The seven ruined towers of Cragmaw Castle stood before the players, the entryway beckoning them onwards. However, the players were apprehensive about simply approaching the structure and opted to try some subtlety. Their previous attempts at stealth didn’t fare well.

*We can all remember the wonderful stealth roll by Asterin with the Orcs at Wyvern Tor.*

Aurelia summoned an illusion of Wendel. *Why Wendel? Who knows?* This illusion she sent directly towards the entryway, only for it to become the target for the various goblins behind the castle walls. The arrows did nothing of course but that didn’t stop the goblins from trying again, so more arrows followed. Aurelia chose to drop the illusion when it reached the limit of her range.

After a brief pause, several goblins exited the entryway to do a small scout around the perimeter of the castle. *Although thwarting a potential ambush, the party did succeed in alerting the entire castle to their presence. *

A frontal assault was clearly not available to the group, so they choose to skirt the north side of the castle and check for another way in. Between some very successful stealth and perception rolls, the two halflings were able to discover an entrance beneath a thick canvas amongst the rubble of the north side of the building. The party had found away in.

Sneaking in through the secret bolthole they discovered that inside of the castle wasn’t much better than the outside, with several internal walls showing signs of partial collapse. Being as stealthy as possible they headed towards the eastern side of the castle and were able to hear a conversation from behind a door. Asterin was able to discern some of the language overhearing the words dwarf and map.

*I couldn’t believe this. It had taken me an incredible amount of time to have the players arrive at this place only for them to skip the contents of the entire castle and arrive directly at the boss room. The very first room they choose to check.*

Checking their equipment, the party burst into the room to see a Drow, King Grol (a large bugbear) and his two pet wolves beside a table, the dwarf was lying on the floor in the nearest corner. With the surprise on their side Asterin immediately dropped a Color Spray, causing damage to the Drow, King Grol and one wolf, and causing all of them to go blind. Merric followed up charging into the thick of it and striking at the bugbear, Wendel joined him positioning himself beside the Drow. Aurelia took a defensive position at the door backing everyone up with range promptly slaying a wolf.